Tag Archives: turnips

We went to the local farmers market this weekend for the 1st time this year. One of the stalls was selling bunches of 3 turnips for $2.50 and I’d never seen turnips that big! I like to put turnips in my Fall and Winter stews instead of potatoes, so I bought a bunch. I’m going to peel, dice and freeze the turnips until I’m ready to use them later this year.

Unlike just the turnip bulb I find in the grocery store, these turnips came with their above-ground leafy stalks. I knew I’d heard about turnip greens in certain Southern movies, books and ladies circles so, being the frugal Southerner that I am, I went searching for a recipe. Cuz, let’s face it: once your north of 40, like I am, you can never have too many greens in your diet! However, I didn’t want a recipe that took an ingredient and boiled it to death or smothered it in so much butter or bacon grease to mask the taste that it was no longer good for us. So I asked The Google to find me a “healthy turnip green recipe”. The second recipe to pop up in that search was Gina Neely’s Turnip Green Recipe. I had all the ingredients, I liked the cooking method, so I went for it!

Once the hubs realized that I was actually going to cook the turnip greens, he felt the need to make a declaration: “I’ve had turnip greens before and I don’t like them. Just like I don’t like turnips! (Note to audience, he gobbles them up in my stews!) No matter how you’re going to prepare them, it’s not going to make a difference to me, because I. Don’t. Like. Turnips! Therefore, I will not be trying yours.” I gotta say, I totally admire the man’s courage for standing up to me. ;o)

Well, I just loved these turnip greens! I asked B if he’d like to try them (let him know he didn’t have to) and he did. He loved them as much as I did! The hubs was in the other room and called out, “What did the boy think?!” I replied, “He liked them alright.”

The hubs came stomping into the kitchen with a duck face. He looked at the pan of greens and his expression changed to disgust. “Did you put vinegar in them,” he asked. “Nope,” I replied. “Hm. Maybe I’d like them if they had vinegar.”

I said nothing; he continued to eye the greens like they were gonna jump up and bite him. I turned back to the computer so he didn’t feel and pressure and saw out of the corner of my eye him grab a green out of the pan with his fingers and put it in his mouth. His face was pleasantly surprised at the taste, but once he saw me looking at him, the duck face was back. “Just like I thought,” he said, and walked into the front room. I wonder if the leftovers will “mysteriously” end up in his lunch pail tomorrow? ;o)